Thanksgiving Meal 2015

Cheese and cracker turkey platter

     We celebrate Thanksgiving on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day.  Our son from Iowa comes in and we have my husband's two sisters and their spouses and children plus our two other children, their spouses and children.  My mom also comes.  This year we had 17 at the table.

Caramel apple sangria

     We started with a cheese and cracker 'turkey' platter that my son put together.  He did a great job and it looked a lot like the photo.  I also had a tray of veggies and dip.  For a holiday drink we had Caramel Apple Sangria.  It was a nice light drink to start the festivities.  My son also mixed this up for us.  He opted to slice the apples into very thin slices instead of chunks.

Pumpkin soup

     The first course was Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup.  It was very tasty but a lot of work.  I did use a fresh pumpkin from our garden.  That's hard work cutting and peeling a pumpkin.  Next time I might opt for a recipe where you roast the pumpkin first so it would be easier to cut.  It also took a lot longer to cook than the recipe called for.

Butternut squash and cranberry quinoa salad

     Our salad was Butternut Squash and Cranberry Quinoa Salad.  I was so glad I opted to buy the butternut squash already cut up.  So much easier.  I did make some without nuts as my other son is allergic and the grandkids are a little young yet to have the nuts.  My squash did get a little overcooked cuz the grandkids came while I was sautéing it and I got involved with them and almost forgot about the squash.  Fortunately my daughter rescued it.

Green bean casserole

Roasted carrots

     For sides we had Healthy Green Bean Casserole and Spice Roasted Carrots.  Both the green beans and carrots were from the garden.  I really enjoyed both dishes though the carrots were a bit charred.  I haven't done roasted vegetables so maybe that is the way they are supposed to be.  My mom thought the green beans were a little spicy but she is used to very bland food.

Sweet potatoes

     For sweet potatoes this year I made Heavenly Hasselback Sweet Potatoes.  Yum!!  I really enjoyed these but they took a bit of time.  Peeling 14 potatoes wasn't that bad but the slicing was harder, especially after cutting up the pumpkin.  Again I made a few without nuts for my allergic son and the grandbabies.  I made a nice pork roast since I don't like turkey or ham.

Biscuits

     For the bread I made these mouth watering Butter Dip Biscuits.  Mine didn't look quite as nice but they were sure delicious.

Cheesecake

     For dessert my husband made Cranberry Crown Cheesecake.  We tried the version with yogurt cheese.  I drained the yogurt as they instructed but very little liquid came out.  As a result the filling was quite watery compared to when you use cream cheese.  It therefore took a lot longer to bake but it finally solidified.  I was quite tasty but not the same as cream cheese cheesecakes.  My sister-in-law also made some pumpkin pies with canned pumpkin and Cool Whip.

     My other sister-in-law provided the wine.  We had a lovely meal and lots of great conversation.  We also enjoyed some football watching and lots of playing with the grandchildren.  Family, food and fun!  And of course my husband and I start the day running the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot as we have for the past almost 10 years.

A Name on a Christmas Stocking

Taking apart the stocking

     It's that time of year again when people are starting to decorate for the holidays.  A request I often get is embroidering names on Christmas stockings.  Sometimes it's as easy as hooping the stocking and stitching but oftentimes it involves taking apart the stocking.

Crosshairs from painter's tape for placement

     In this case I needed to remove the cuff from the stocking in order to stitch the name more easily.  Because the cuff was velvet and had a lining and I wanted only one layer of fabric I needed to take it apart.  Often times when you have two layers of fabric, the top layer will shift and cause problems with stitching.

Topping basted in place

     When deciding what font to use on an item, I look for clues in the item.  In this case I looked at the font used for Merry Christmas and chose one that would compliment it in my software.  I had also measured the size of the area I had to work with and sized the name accordingly.

Starting to stitch the name

 

   I marked where I wanted the name to be and then hooped a sticky stabilizer.  I pressed the fabric to the sticky but also added some pins to make sure it wouldn't move.  Then I placed a water soluble stabilizer on top and basted it down.  This step insures that everything stays in place.

Finished stocking

     After the stitching was all done, I removed the stabilizer from the top and bottom.  I then lightly pressed it from the wrong side and then reconstructed the stocking.

     I believe these extra steps help to present a professional looking item.  So when you ask for a name on a stocking, remember it might take a little extra work to make it look great.

Clothing Quilt

Pile of clothes

     I had a client that came to me wanting a quilt from her mom's clothes.  The mom had recently passed away and she wanted something to remember her mom by.  She also wanted one for her aunt, her mom's sister.

One of the shirts

     We discussed different ideas and finally settled on a large lap sized quilt that she could use while watching television.  It would be 48" x 72" plenty big enough to snuggle up under.

Cutting apart the shirt

     I examined all the clothing to see which ones which be best.  They were mostly knits and fleece.  As they were on the larger size I determined I could get 12.5" squares cut from them so there would be less piecing involved.

Ready for pressing and interfacing

     Because I thought just twelve inch squares would be boring I also cut some 6.5" squares to make four patch blocks to go with the other solid squares.

Interfacing I used

     My biggest problem was going to be how to stabilize the fleece fabric.  I use Shir-Tailor on the backs of T-shirts when I make T-shirt quilts but fleece will melt with the hot iron needed to fuse it in place.

My EuroSteam iron

     My new iron to the rescue.  This EuroSteam iron produces plenty of steam but does not get that hot.  I did a test and sure enough I was able to due the interfacing to the fleece without melting it or otherwise damaging the fleece.

Ready for fusing

     I cut apart the garment and pressed the pieces to be sure all the wrinkles were out.  Then I fused the interfacing to the wrong side of the pieces.

Cutting the large square

Cutting the small squares

     I then used my rulers and cut out my 12.5" squares.  Then I cut some 6.5" squares.  In some cases I centered a motif from the garment.

Centered design element from garment

     I kept cutting apart, pressing, interfacing and cutting until I had the squares I needed.  I cut a few extra so I would be able to play around with the layout.

All cut

     I sewed my four patches with just two different fabrics in each.  I felt the quilt was going to be busy enough without using four different fabrics in the four patch block.

Rulers I used

     Then it was time to play around with the layout.  After I got two pleasing layouts I sewed the squares together.  Normally when I make quilts I press the seams to one side but because these fabrics were bulky, I pressed all the seams open.

Back of finished quilt top

     The client was originally going to put on a fleece backing but couldn't find a color she liked.  She chose a Minky-like light grey fabric, much harder to work with than fleece.  I laid out the backing fabric on the floor, right side up.  Then I laid the quilt top down, right side down.  I pinned all around and cut the backing to size.

Pinned together

     I stitched it with right sides together, leaving an opening for turning.  I pressed the seam and turned right side out.  Then I top-stitched close to the edge to keep the backing from rolling forward and to close the opening.

Button in place

     Knowing that the Minky-like fabric was very likely to stretch if I tried to stitch in the ditch to secure the layers I opted instead to use the buttons from the clothing to tack all the corners.  I pinned with quilt pins around each of the intersections.  Then once again I played around with placing the buttons.

Buttons taped in place

     Once I had them where I wanted them, I secured them with blue painters tape.  I then took it all to the sewing machine and used the sew on button stitch to secure everything in place.

Label

   

     The last step was using my software and embroidery machine to create a label.  I used a cotton fabric that was similar in color to the backing fabric for the base of the label.  I then chose two shades of purple for the lettering and frame as my client had said it was her mom's favorite color.  I pressed under the edges and hand stitched it in place.

     What a wonderful way to be able to keep something around of your loved one.